Real Mallorca fans vent their fury

Player effigies hanged at the stadium.

Real Mallorca's dire, dismal and dreadful season finished in a 3-3 draw against Madrid side Getafe on Saturday night. The football, however, took a back seat as there were unprecedented ugly scenes from the almost 4,000 fans who had bothered to turn up. Anger and frustration was in the air as a cacophony of boos, whistles and swear words came from all sides of the Son Moix aimed primarily at the players and especially the palco (directors' box). There was vitriolic nastiness as aggrieved fans made their feelings clear. General manager Maheta Molango was left in no doubt as to how unpopular he and his policies are.

In any other situation Molango would have walked away, giving the fans what they wanted, but he reiterated again after the game he won't be throwing in the towel and won't be leaving the sinking ship that is Real Mallorca. In fact, a gaunt and shell-shocked general manager said he and director of football, Javi Recio, were ready to rebuild the team from top to bottom during the next few weeks. When interviewed afterwards, he said: “What has just taken place is the worst thing ever to happen to me, both in my personal and business life.” The next thing he is likely to do is go over to Phoenix, Arizona to meet the owners and discuss what to do next. His biggest job then will be to get the fans back on his side; no easy task after the venom being spouted on Saturday.

There were signs and banners all over the ground, and even a couple of life-size mock-ups of players hanging by the neck from ropes draped over the Iberostar Estadio Son Moix sign behind the north end of the ground, captioned in the press as "hanged effigies". The Ultras had their signs out and ready before kick off. One read: “We are the twelfth man, where are the other eleven?” Another declared: “The worst team in 101 years.” Under the flagpoles was a huge sign which read “Maheta dimissió", i.e. calling for his resignation.

On the pitch the fans were giving Hector Yuste a really hard time, basically because he is club captain. Every time he touched the ball there was a chorus of boos. When he was substituted in the second half, Yuste tore off the captain's armband and threw it on the ground. I have to say I felt a wee bit sorry for him, the fans were OTT. Club mascot Dimonio calmed things down a bit just before half time, when he did a lap of the running track waving a huge Real Mallorca flag. When he'd finished his run, the guy inside the outfit took off his demonic head and collapsed in a heap exhausted The Coca Cola dug-out didn't escape the fans' wrath. Two of the plastic panes were smashed and some unprintable words were daubed over it. In the 57th minute, as predicted, the Ultras left their fenced-in part and walked up to the top of their area only to stand and watch the rest of the game - very random.

But the fans' frustrations were far from over when the referee blew for time. Several hundred waited outside the car park for the team coach to leave, and then it really kicked off. We had smoke bombs, flares and the bus was pelted with eggs. It turned very, very ugly and police reinforcements were called in. In all the thirty-odd years I've followed the team, I've never seen so many pissed off fans. I just wonder how many will bother to renew their season tickets over the next few weeks.

The club are set to axe around 60 jobs in the wake of their relegation. Many of the 70 employees will be made redundant as the club undergoes a total restructure. What these poor people, who've given their life and soul to Real Mallorca over the years, must be going through is unimaginable but it's something that has to be done. The mismanagement of Real Mallorca over the past few seasons has led us into our present predicament. Any successful club needs passion from top to bottom and too many of our players have not fought hard enough for the badge. A club in a relegation battle (where we've more or less been in the past four years) needs an experienced manager, someone who is familiar with the sort of situation we've been in and has good management skills. It may be a controversial thing to say, but relegation to part-time football for the first time for 36 years could be just the dose of reality the club needs. There won't be many people who could argue Real Mallorca do not deserve relegation; a club is never too big to go down. Whether we can bounce back from this massive disappointment remains to be seen.

As for the game (I almost forgot about that), Brandon (in what will probably be his last appearance here) scored twice and Getafe defender Gorosito put through his own goal. For the visitors who'd brought a few fans with them, ex-Celtic misfit Stefan Scepovic netted a brace with Emi Buendia scoring a late equaliser. Getafe always had something in store, but a play-off team? Hardly. As the players left the pitch, Brandon and Lago Junior got the biggest round of applause - both of them have been our best players of the season. What fans were left now gave a rousing rendition of the “Mallorca, Mallorca” anthem which rang out around the almost empty Son Moix: a sad, sad night but it was inevitable weeks ago. On Sunday the Catalan press stated that Brandon is on his way to play for Barcelona's B team, who are on the cusp of making it back into La Segunda.

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Geoff Dominy / Hace 9 months

I am afraid I must accept the blame for the demise of Real Mallorca. For over 45 years I supported Leeds United (and look what happened to them) and eleven years ago started to follow Real Mallorca (moving here three years ago) and look what happened to them. My Barca friends have suggested I support Real Madrid while my Real friends have warned me not to. But seriously.....mismanagement from the top to the bottom. A disaster of epic proportions for fans who deserve so much more. I was hoping ATB would get promoted and made the fatal mistake of following them into the playoffs. Three times a charm?